Originally Published in the Daily Muse

Whoever came up with the old saying “searching for a job is a full-time job” wasn’t kidding around. For most job seekers, finding employment means submitting applications until your fingers ache from typing and your brain hurts from churning out search terms. It means job fairs, countless applications disappearing into cyberspace, and listening to hours of unsolicited advice from friends and family, many of whom probably tell you that you need to be more aggressive in your networking. But does that mean you’re supposed to come right out and ask anyone and everyone you meet to hire you? Absolutely not. Networking at its core is about building mutually beneficial relationships with companies and individuals that can help you reach your career goals. So most of … Read More

Like many other Millennials hoping to break into the national security world, I hightailed it to Washington, DC the minute I had my master’s diploma in hand. Once there, I networked myself into a frenzy as I searched for a job that would satisfy my intellectual hunger. A few weeks later, a defense contractor hired me to run the operations for a training program at the Pentagon. I was responsible for preparing high-ranking Department of Defense officials for a seamless deployment to Afghanistan, where they would then serve as advisors to the Afghan government. I sat at the forefront of the U.S. and NATO’s foreign policy efforts in Central Asia, and I was ready for the challenge. In fact, everything I had accomplished in my life up … Read More

The hour of your big interview has arrived, and you know you’re going to nail it. You’ve done your research and memorized your talking points. At this point, you could talk about the company in your sleep—right down to where the interviewer attended undergrad and the exact number of Wall Street Journal mentions the company has had in the past six months. But when the interviewer asks you to talk about yourself, you freeze, realizing with horror that you didn’t prepare enough to deliver your elevator pitch. You smile politely, shift in your chair, and say, “well…um…” as your mind frantically struggles to string something together. Not exactly what you’re going for. Click here to read my three ways to shine when asked “tell me about yourself.”

For each of the eager beavers out there who seize upon any opportunity to remind the higher-ups of their existence, there are handfuls of fearful employees doing whatever they can to avoid unwanted attention or judgement from management. If you fall in this category, you’ve probably mastered the art of always appearing busy as a mechanism to avoid conversation, memorized your boss’ schedule so you can avoid run-ins, and learned the straight-and-narrow approach to completing tasks in a way that doesn’t raise eyebrows or warrant the most dreaded experience of all: being called into the boss’ office. Why are so many of us fearful of our employers? Is the modern workplace really dominated by Machiavellian tyrants? So, what can you do to over come your … Read More